West Midlands gets a new Tory MEP, but ‘no need for an election’

Former Warwickshire county cricketer Dan Dalton has been returned as a West Midlands Conservative member of the European Parliament to replace Philp Bradbourn who died last month.

Mr Dalton was the third Tory candidate choice under the list system at the European elections last year and automatically succeeds Mr Bradbourn under Brussels’ rules without the need for a new poll.

On the right of the Conservative party and a Eurosceptic, Mr Dalton says he believes in “free markets, small government, personal liberty and individual freedom and responsibility”.

Writing on his website after being selected to stand at the 2014 election, Mr Dalton called for the EU to be fundamentally reformed and for Britain’s relationship with it to be renegotiated.

He said: “We are at a pivotal time in Britain’s relations with the European Union. Our current relationship simply cannot go on as it is.

“My preferred option would be for a relationship similar to what we thought we were agreeing to when we joined the EU. A common market allowing for British goods to be sold tariff free anywhere within the Common market and for us to have a say in the rules governing the internal market.

“I do not believe that the EU should have powers beyond this. A common European Foreign or Defence policy, a European Army or a common immigration policy have nothing to do with trying to boost trade and economic development around Europe.

“Similarly, rules governing how many hours we can work or who we can deport or which pesticides we can use or how much land our farmers have to set aside or how much we pay our bankers should not be decided at EU level. Especially when rules can be rammed through against the wishes of the British government and even if all UK MEPs vote against.

“It is for these reasons that I want to be an MEP. To fight against the imposition of EU rules that have no place governing Britain, and to play my part in repatriating powers back to the UK.”

Forty-year-old Mr Dalton played second eleven cricket for Kent, Gloucestershire and Warwickshire between 1996 and 2005.